Characterization and trajectories of hematological parameters prior to severe COVID-19 based on a large-scale prospective health checkup cohort in western China: a longitudinal study of 13-year follow-up.

BACKGROUND: The relaxation of the "zero-COVID" policy on Dec. 7, 2022, in China posed a major public health threat recently. Complete blood count test was discovered to have complicated relationships with COVID-19 after the infection, while very few studies could track long-term monitoring of the health status and identify the characterization of hematological parameters prior to COVID-19. METHODS: Based on a 13-year longitudinal prospective health checkup cohort of ~ 480,000 participants in West China Hospital, the largest medical center in western China, we documented 998 participants with a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 during the 1 month after the policy. We performed a time-to-event analysis to explore the associations of severe COVID-19 patients diagnosed, with 34 different hematological parameters at the baseline level prior to COVID-19, including the whole and the subtypes of white and red blood cells. RESULTS: A total of 998 participants with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test were documented in the cohort, 42 of which were severe cases. For white blood cell-related parameters, a higher level of basophil percentage (HR = 6.164, 95% CI = 2.066-18.393, P = 0.001) and monocyte percentage (HR = 1.283, 95% CI = 1.046-1.573, P = 0.017) were found associated with the severe COVID-19. For lymphocyte-related parameters, a lower level of lymphocyte count (HR = 0.571, 95% CI = 0.341-0.955, P = 0.033), and a higher CD4/CD8 ratio (HR = 2.473, 95% CI = 1.009-6.059, P = 0.048) were found related to the risk of severe COVID-19. We also observed that abnormality of red cell distribution width (RDW), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), and hemoglobin might also be involved in the development of severe COVID-19. The different trajectory patterns of RDW-SD and white blood cell count, including lymphocyte and neutrophil, prior to the infection were also discovered to have significant associations with the risk of severe COVID-19 (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings might help decision-makers and clinicians to classify different risk groups of population due to outbreaks including COVID-19. They could not only optimize the allocation of medical resources, but also help them be more proactive instead of reactive to long COVID-19 or even other outbreaks in the future.

Assessing the application of barbed sutures in comparison to conventional sutures for surgical applications: a global systematic review and meta-analysis of preclinical animal studies.

BACKGROUND: Following an initiative published by Lancet in 2002 and an IDEAL-D framework, the value of preclinical animal studies has garnered increasing attention in recent research. Numerous preclinical animal experiments tried to generate evidence to guide the development of barbed sutures. However, discernible drawbacks and incongruities in outcomes have emerged between clinical and preclinical animal studies. Therefore, this meta-analysis aimed to review the preclinical animal experiments comparing barbed sutures with conventional sutures. The authors hope to facilitate clinical translation of barbed sutures by evaluating effectiveness, safety, and physical properties/reliability. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic search of PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov was conducted to identify controlled preclinical animal experiments comparing barbed sutures with conventional sutures. The risk of bias was assessed using SYRCLE. GRADE approach was used to evaluate evidence quality. Revman was applied to analyze all the data. Subgroup, sensitivity, and meta-regression analyses were also performed. RESULTS: A total of 62 articles were eligible with low to moderate quality, including 2158 samples from 10 different animal species across 27 surgical procedures. Barbed suture exhibited a significant reduction in suture time, limited change in Cross-Sectional Area (CSA), and decreased instances of tissue disruption (all P <0.05). Subgroup analyses, considering both clinical and research significance, indicated that barbed sutures might cause more specific adverse events and demonstrate suboptimal performance of physical properties/reliability. Meta-regression suggested that heterogeneity resulted from variations in studies and animal models. CONCLUSION: Although barbed suture demonstrated superiority in numerous surgeries for time efficiency, its safety and physical properties/reliability might be influenced by diverse preclinical models, sutures' brand, surgeries, and anatomical sites. Further evaluation, based on standardized and well-designed animal experiments, is essential for medical device development and applications in human beings.

Genetic support of causal association between lipid and glucose metabolism and stress urinary incontinence in women: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization and multivariable-adjusted study.

Background: Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a common condition characterized by urethral sphincter failure and urine leakage. Its prevalence in women is higher than in men, and estimates of crude prevalence rates vary widely due to factors such as research methodologies, study populations, and underreporting by patients. This variability hinders research and impacts patient diagnosis, treatment, and quality of life. The complex etiology of SUI is not fully understood, and previous studies have primarily focused on non-invasive indicators. While emerging observational research suggests a correlation between SUI in women and abnormalities in lipid and blood metabolism, the underlying biological mechanisms and causal relationships require further investigation. This study aims to explore the causalities between SUI in women and lipid and blood metabolism. Methods: Using bidirectional univariate Mendelian randomization (MR), we investigated the causal association between SUI liability in women (case/control = 5,924/399,509) from UK Biobank and lipid and glucose metabolism, indicated by total cholesterol (TC, N = 61,166), low-density lipoproteins (LDL, N = 58,381), high-density lipoproteins (HDL, N = 60,812), triglycerides (TG, N = 60,027), fasting glucose (FG, N = 19,745), and fasting insulin (FI, N = 38,238) from ENGAGE consortium. To account for potential confounding effects, multivariable MR (MVMR) analyses were performed, adjusting for body mass index (BMI) and separately among lipid and glucose metabolism. Results: We found that increased genetically proxied TC, LDL, and HDL levels were associated with an elevated risk of SUI in women (OR: 1.090-1.117, all P < 0.05), These associations were further supported by MVMR analyses with adjustment for BMI (OR: 1.087-1.114, all P < 0.05). Conversely, increased FG and FI were associated with reduced SUI reliability in women (OR: 0.731-0.815, all P < 0.05). When adjusting among lipid and glucose metabolism, only HDL and FI demonstrated causal effects. Reverse MR analyses provided no genetic evidence supporting the causal effect of SUI in women on lipid and blood metabolism (all P > 0.05). Conclusions: Our results reported that increased TC, LDL, and HDL are linked to higher SUI susceptibility in women, while higher FG and FI levels have a protective effect. In overweight/obese women with metabolic abnormalities, the positive associations between TC, LDL, and HDL levels and SUI indicate a higher risk.

Exploring the causal relationship: bidirectional mendelian randomization study on benign prostatic hyperplasia and cardiovascular diseases.

Background: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common disease occurring in elderly and middle-aged men, and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are one of the major causes of death worldwide. Many observational studies examined have found a strong association between BPH and CVDs, but the causal relationship between them is unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the causal relationship between BPH and CVDs, specifically five diseases: stroke, coronary heart disease (CHD), heart failure, myocardial infarction (MI), and atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods: In this study, we obtained single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of patients with BPH from the UK Biobank database and patients with CVDs from the UK Biobank, the HERMES Consortium, and the FinnGen Genome Database, each used as a genetic tool for a Mendelian randomization (MR) study. We used conventional MR analysis to assess potential causal direction between BPH and CVDs, as well as MR-Egger, MR-PRESSO, model-based estimation (MBE) and weighted median methods for sensitivity analysis. Results: Using a bidirectional two-sample MR study, we found that BPH patients had an increased risk of developing CHD (ConMix OR = 1.152, 95% CI: 1.011-1.235, p = 0.035) and MI (ConMix OR = 1.107.95% CI: 1.022-1.164, p = 0.013), but a decreased risk of stroke (ConMix OR = 0.872, 95% CI: 0.797-0.926, p = 0.002). The reverse study was not statistically significant and further research may be needed. Conclusion: Our study suggests a potential causal relationship between BPH and CVDs. BPH appears to be a risk factor for CHD and MI, but it may be protective against stroke. There was no evidence of a causal association in the reverse study, and a larger sample size was needed in follow-up to further explore the potential association.

Effectiveness and safety of knotless barbed sutures in cosmetic surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The barbed suture, which can eliminate knot tying and accelerate the placement of sutures, is an innovative type of suture, whereas the benefits of cosmetic surgeries (CS) are controversial. This study aimed to comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness and safety of barbed sutures in CS. METHOD: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched for English studies comparing the use of barbed with conventional sutures in CS up to October 2020. The updated Cochrane risk-of-bias tool (ROB2.0) and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) were utilized to evaluate the risk of bias. Subgroup analysis was performed according to study designs and barbed suture types. RESULTS: A total of 14 studies, including 5 randomized controlled trials and 9 cohort studies, were included (risk of bias: moderate to low), representing 2259 patients. The barbed suture was identified to reduce suture time (mean difference [MD]=-6.18, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -8.75 to -3.60, P < 0.00001) and operative time (MD=-10.80, 95% CI: -20.83 to -0.76, P = 0.03) without increasing the hospital stays and total postoperative complications (most were Clavien I and IIIa). No significant difference was detected for incisional infection, delayed wound healing, and hematoma; however, increasing incidence of wound dehiscence (odds ratio [OR]=1.60, 95% CI: 1.09-2.34, P = 0.02) and suture extrusion (OR=3.97, 95%CI: 1.96-8.04, P = 0.0001) were found, particularly in the unidirectional barbed suture subgroup. Barbed sutures might also help CS advance and reduce seroma formation. CONCLUSION: The barbed suture was effective in CS; however, its safety needs to be cautiously interpreted as it might be related to more wound dehiscence and suture extrusion despite similar total postoperative complications with conventional sutures. This study might provide important references for decision-makers and clinicians, though further evidence of randomized design, larger sample size, longer follow-up, and standardized rating approaches are warranted.